Preventing ice Cube Melting

Most recent answer: 05/16/2013

Q:
what is the best insulator to keep an ice cube from melting in a container?
- william (age 8)
new canaan,ct
A:
Hello William,
Ordinary styrofoam is pretty good.  It\'s an excellent insulator and inexpensive too.
Probably your best bet is a Dewar flask, commonly called a Thermos bottle.  This device was invented by a Scottish physicist and chemist Sir James Dewar  in 1892. It consists of two bottles, one inside the other, with a vacuum between them.  The vacuum prevents heat conduction through air.  In addition the sides of the bottles are silvered to reduce heat loss due to radiation.

LeeH

(published on 05/16/2013)